QuoteProject
The computer is the most extraordinary of man's technological clothing; it's an extension of our central nervous system. Beside it, the wheel is a mere hula-hoop.
Marshall Mcluhan
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the pivotal role of computers in enhancing human capabilities, overshadowing earlier technologies like the wheel.

Marshall McLuhan's quote highlights the computer as a revolutionary tool in human advancement, suggesting that it transcends previous technologies by becoming an integral part of our cognitive processes. He compares it to a form of 'clothing' that enhances our natural abilities, indicating that computers are more than just devices; they are extensions of our mind and senses, fundamentally changing how we interact with the world.

Themes

TechnologyComputerExtensionNervous SystemHumanity

In practice

Example use cases

In a tech conference discussing the future of AI.

More from Marshall Mcluhan

To say that "the camera cannot lie" is merely to underline the multiple deceits that are now practised in its name.
Marshall McluhanRead
A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.
Marshall McluhanRead
In big industry new ideas are invited to rear their heads so they can be clobbered at once. The idea department of a big firm is a sort of lab for isolating dangerous viruses.
Marshall McluhanRead
The news automatically becomes the real world for the TV user and is not a substitute for reality, but is itself an immediate reality.
Marshall McluhanRead
Faced with information overload, we have no alternative but pattern-recognition.
Marshall McluhanRead
The poet, the artist, the sleuth, whoever sharpens our perception tends to antisocial; rarely 'well adjusted,' he cannot go along with currents and trends.
Marshall McluhanRead

Similar quotes

The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.
Steve BallmerRead
The study of thinking machines teaches us more about the brain than we can learn by introspective methods. Western man is externalizing himself in the form of gadgets.
William S. BurroughsRead
LISP has jokingly been described as "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer." I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavour of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
Edsger DijkstraRead
I think a lot of the time there isn't such a black-and-white difference between what's a platform and what's an app. It's really just like the most important apps become platforms.
Mark ZuckerbergRead
We want to be able to service our customers more, like an Internet service. Our goal is to run one of the largest Internet services that enables people to use Windows on an everyday basis.
Satya NadellaRead
Computers are still technology because we are still wrestling with it: it's still being invented; we're still trying to work out how it works. There's a world of game interaction to come that you or I wouldn't recognise. It's time for the machines to disappear. The computer's got to disappear into all of the things we use.
Douglas AdamsRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Marshall Mcluhan | QuoteProject